Seattle bus driver says fentanyl-smoking passengers have made him sick

A Seattle bus driver is on medical go away after he claims passengers generally smoking fentanyl on his bus have made him sick.

Stevon Williams, a driver for King County Metro, was positioned on go away whereas awaiting take a look at outcomes over publicity to smoke from the deadly artificial opioid, although well being officers say the second-hand smoke “poses no actual threat,” based on a neighborhood report.

“I actually hadn’t ever heard of fentanyl smoking on the bus once I was employed by Metro,” Williams informed native AM radio station KOMO Information. “I don’t need to be put in a predicament the place I’m round medicine daily on my job – I didn’t join that.”

In response to King County Metro knowledge, there have been 1,885 stories of drug use on the bus system in 2022. As many as 52 bus operators reported being uncovered to drug smoke and 16 operators filed staff compensation claims, KOMO reported.

“You may have people who find themselves on there smoking proper beside passengers, proper beside moms with little youngsters. It’s for the drug customers, they’re regarded out for first,” Williams stated.

“I simply know after we’re sick, we ought to be checked and listened to,” he added.

Native well being officers say that publicity to smoke from the lethal opioid shouldn’t be significantly harmful.

“When somebody smokes fentanyl, a lot of the drug has been filtered out by the consumer earlier than there’s secondhand smoke,” Dr. Scott Phillips, the medical director of the Washington Poison Middle wrote on the well being division’s weblog. “It doesn’t simply type of float round … there’s no actual threat for the on a regular basis individual being uncovered to secondhand opioid smoke.”

Throughout a King County Metro assembly on drug use final 12 months, a well being division rep stated that the media usually misreports information about second-hand fentanyl smoke.

“It’s vital to notice whenever you see fentanyl reporting that you just take a very take a essential eye as a result of there’s plenty of misinformation on the market,” stated Thea Oliphant-Wells, a social employee for Seattle & King County Public Well being. “We’re not seeing of us growing second hand publicity, that is simply not occurring. To not say that it may by no means occur, however we’re not seeing it.”

Oliphant-Wells informed metro staff that they really choose that customers take medicine in public areas in case of an overdose, though drug use is prohibited on public transit.

“We don’t need individuals to be utilizing in personal areas alone, we would like individuals to be utilizing in a spot the place in the event that they overdose they are often found and helped by means of that overdose,” she stated.

In response to the rampant drug use and different questions of safety, King County Metro has doubled its safety workers.

“Metro is enhancing security for each staff and prospects. Drug use is prohibited on transit, and we’re doubling our transit safety workers to 140 officers with Council help,” a Metro spokesperson informed KOMO in an announcement.

“We’ve added a second safety contractor to help our efforts countywide,” the spokesperson stated. “These workers members are key to addressing stories from operators and prospects and scale back incidents on buses and at transit areas.”

King County declared fentanyl a public well being emergency in 2022, when over 700 individuals died from overdoses.